1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable or hand-held gas (oxygen) or dual therapy device comprising an inhaler for delivering oxygen or oxygen and medicine to a patient, wherein the oxygen or other gas of medicinal value serves in combined role as a propellant and therapeutic agent.
2. Prior Art
The prior art is replete with a number of disclosures that report on drug administration to a patient by using a device that atomizes the drug, wherein the patient inhales via a mouthpiece, mask or hood. For example, "inhalers" and the like are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,059 (Steil), Apr. 25, 1972; U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,238 (Glenn), Feb. 8, 1977; U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,387 (Kremer) Sep. 26, 1978; U.S. Pat. No.4,674.491 (Brugger) Jun. 23, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,067 (Svoboda) May 24, 1988; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,015 (Mansson et al.) Jun. 7, 1994.
From the above, it has now been fairly well-established that for an inhaler to be usable and effective for a wide variety of applications, patients and/or locations, it should ideally have the following characteristics: 1. the degree of atomization should be high; 2. the medicine that is stored in the device should never come in contact with surrounding air (or such contact should be kept at a minimum); 3. the medicine should be deliverable in both liquid and powder form; 4. the device should protect the patient from an overdose; 5. atomized medicine that remains in the mouthpiece, or which is still trapped, should not be wasted; 6. the inhaler should be modifiable for different types of medicines; 7. the inhaler should not be cumbersome, and 8. it should be as quiet as possible in operation so that it does not attract attention when in use.
Other citations of interest include some more recent disclosures to what have become to be known as "metered dose inhalers". For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,765 entitled "Devices for Simultaneous Delivery of Beta-2 Agonists and Oxygen to a Patient", there is disclosed a device for simultaneous delivery of beta-2 agonists and oxygen to a patient. Specifically, it was recognized therein that oxygen and beta 2 agonists are two basic medications for treating asthma in an emergency room. However, oxygen was typically administered in continuous fashion to the patient through a mouthpiece or a face mask, while beta 2 agonists were administered in the patient's throat with a metered dose inhaler. The invention therein offered the ability to administer the beta 2 agonists and oxygen simultaneously, through a set of tubes connected and in open communication with a spacer. More specifically, the device is said to comprise a main chamber, an adapter at one end of the chamber to accommodate a metered dose inhaler, and a mask or mouthpiece detachably mounted at the other end of the main chamber. A tube of given length is connected to and in open communication with the main chamber at one end, and opened to air at the other end. A unidirectional valve is placed in the tube at a short distance from the end connected to the main chamber mounted in such a manner as to allow flow circulation within the tube exclusively towards the main chamber. An auxiliary tube is connected to and in open communication with the tube at one end, at a given distance from the unidirectional valve away from the main chamber. The other end of this auxiliary tube is devised to accommodate an oxygen source.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,610 entitled "Inhalation Device", there is disclosed a device for dispensing an aerosol from an aerosol module containing aerosol under pressure wherein there is a cocking device for readying it for release of the pressurized aerosol, a sear for retaining the cocking device in non-operative position following readying and a vane operable by inhalation on the part of a user to disable the sear to thus release the cocking device to effect expulsion of aerosol from the aerosol module.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,133, entitled "Inhalation Device with a Dose Timer, An Actuator Mechanism, and Patient Compliance Monitoring Means", there is disclosed an inhalation device which contains a mechanism to assure patient compliance with a drug dosage regimen. That is, the history of inhalation device use can all be recorded and analyzed at a later time by a physician or other health care professional.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,034 entitled "Method and Means for Dispensing Respiratory Gases by Effecting a Known Displacement", there is disclosed a device for administering oxygen and other respirating gases to a patient. More specifically, disclosed therein is a device for administering oxygen to a patient that premeters and temporarily stores single dose quantities of respirating gas and dispenses each dose in synchronization with the patient's respiratory cycle.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,947 entitled "Dry Powder Inhaler and Process that Explosively Discharges a Dose of Powder and Gas From a Soft Plastic Pillow", a powder inhaler is disclosed comprising a pillow or blister-type container of extremely thin elastic construction. The pillow is compressed between an anvil with a conical depression and a confronting conical piston. Compression between the conical pillow and the conical depression produces explosive rupture of the pillow and exit of the gas and medication at a very high speed (up to supersonic) through an orifice and to the patient.
What the above review of the prior art reveals, is that although the art has developed quite extensively with regards to various inhaler designs, there is still a need for an inhaler that remains truly portable, but which eliminates the use of fluorocarbon propellants which are known to serve absolutely no role in the therapeutic process, in favor of those gases which can contribute to overall patient therapy.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable drug delivery inhaler device, that is portable in size, and which provides a unique and highly efficient "dual therapy" release of both drugs and oxygen gas, or other gases which have medicinal value, so that the patient is uniquely and conveniently administered both a gas and a medicament that combine and contribute towards the overall curative process.